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Hesperornis
Hesperornis is an extinct genus of flightless aquatic birds that lived during the Late Cretaceous. Hesperornis were very large birds reaching up to 2 metres (6.5 feet) in length. They had virtually no wings and hunted in the waters of the North American Inland Sea. Facts Hesperornis is an extinct genus of flightless aquatic birds that lived during the Santonian to Campanian sub-epochs of the Late Cretaceous 89-65 mya. One of the lesser known discoveries of paleontologist O. C. Marsh in the late 19th century Bone Wars, it was an important early find in the history of avian paleontology. Famous locations for Hesperornis are the Late Cretaceous marine limestones from Kansas and the marine shales from Canada but the genus had probably a Holarctic distribution. Hesperornis is shown to nest in onshore rookeries, like modern penguins. They are probably preyed on by mosasaurs such as Tylosaurus that live in the same area. It was primarily a fish-eater, but was aggressive towards other small animals when panicked. They were not highly intelligent. Description Hesperornis was a large bird reaching up to 2 meters 6.5 feet in length. It had virtually no wings and swam with its powerful hind legs. The toes were probably lobed rather than webbed as in today's grebes like in these the toes could rotate well, which is necessary to decrease drag in lobed feet but not in webbed ones like in loons where the toes are simply folded together. Like many other Mesozoic birds such as Ichthyornis, Hesperornis had teeth in its beak which were used to hold prey, most likely fish. In the hesperornithiform lineage they were of a different arrangement than in any other known bird or in non-avian theropod dinosaurs with the teeth sitting in a longitudinal groove rather than in individual sockets in a notable case of convergent evolution with mosasaurs. In Primeval A housewife in west London finds water spreading through the basement. She called a plumber as a Herperornis came through the anomaly. The water conducted electricity from the electrical mains shocking the creature and antagonising it. When the plumber arrived he searched around for what he thought was a water mains leak. The plumber was then killed by a Hesperornis. Later as Nick Cutter swims through the anomaly he finds himself in a tropical sea with a flock of Hesperornis swimming around him. He finds a Hesperornis rookery amongst the rocky shoreline. Two Hesperornis investigate, but Helen Cutter shoos them off by throwing small stones and says that they tend to be more dumb than violent, only attacking when they're in a panic or disturbed. (Episode 1.3) Trivia *﻿''Hesperornis'' is actually the first dinosaur to appear in the Primeval, rather than the Raptors. *﻿''Hesperornis'' is the first bird in the series. *''Hesperornis'' is the second Cretaceous animal the team encounters. *These creatures may actually be Baptornis because of the webbed feet. *The coloration of the Hesperonis in Primeval is similar to the Hesperornis in Sea Monsters - A Walking with Dinosaurs Special. *It is the first bird to kill a human. (In the show anyway, as a flock of Terror Birds killed Scientist John Morton and his team in the 1930's) *It is the only Mesozoic bird to appear in Primeval. Errors *The Primeval merchandising mispells Hesperornis as Hesperonis, missing out the 2nd "r". *In the series Hesperornis is shown to be capable of standing upright; in reality its legs were too articulated for swimming to allow an erect stance on land. *The Hesperornis in Primeval have scales; the real ones had feathers. *It can be seen that the upper beak full of teeth. But in reality there were only the back teeth. *Real-life Hesperornis would not have been aggressive towards people like they were in Primeval. Of course, there is no way to know this for sure. Even in Primeval, they probably just acted aggressively towards people because they had rarely seen humans before and were afraid of them. Gallery Episode1.3 34.JPG|The Hesperornis in the basement Episode1.3 35.JPG|The Plumber is attacked by the hesperornis Episode1.3 44.JPG|Nick sees a hesperornis rookery Cutter and 2 Hesperornis.jpg|Nick Cutter figure with 2 hesperornis' External Links *Hesperornis on the BBC America site Category:Prehistoric creatures Category:Birds Category:Cretaceous creatures Category:Series 1 Creatures Category:Creatures Category:Creatures that cause deaths Category:Mesozoic creatures Category:Cretaceous creatures Category:Aquatic Creatures